Experimental Study of A Novel Piezoelectric Tumor Marker Micro-array Immunosensor

A novel 2×5 model of insert-plug piezoelectric quartz crystal tumor marker micro-array immunosensor constructed with screw clamp apparatus has been developed for quantitative detection of the tumor markers such as alpha-fetoprotein (AFP),carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA),prostate specific antigen (PSA),and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in serum,in which every crystal unit can oscillate independently with the stability of±1 hertz (Hz) in air and±2 Hz in liquid.These response characteristics of Pz tumor marker micro-array immunosensor such as temperature, time-cost,reproducibility and specificity etc were also investigated.The detection ranges for AFP,CEA,PSA,and hCG obtained by Pz micro-array immunosensor were 20 ng/ml～640 ng/ml,1.56 ng/ml～50 ng/ml,1.25 ng/ml～50 ng/ml,and 2.5 mIU/ml～250 mlU/mi respectively with the coefficient of variance (CV) less than 5%.No cross-reactivates with other tumor markers in serum were observed.The results of AFP,CEA,PSA,and hCG obtained by this method from 68 serum samples were in good agreement with those given by chemiluminescence immunoassay with the correlation coefficients of 0.92,0.90,0.91,and 0.94 respectively.The Pz immunosensor regenerated by urea solution could be reused for five times without appreciable loss of response activity.Therefore,the proposed insert-plug immunosensor provides a rapid, sensitive,specific,reusable,convenient and reliable alternative for the detection of tumor markers in clinical laboratory.

Simulation of Hydrophobicity Evaluation and Structural Optimization Design Method for Micro-Array Units

In recent years, researches published on hydrophobic materials increase rapidly, wherein the method for changing hydrophobicity by modifying a micro-array structure on the surface of the material also has been proposed. Of course, if it is possible for us to quantitatively analyse and evaluate hydrophobicity of different structures of one certain material at first, this task will greatly optimize the design of actual structures. In this work, we used the algorithm for Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Horizontal-set method integrated in COMSOL to build two single-pore simulation structures in different shapes and simulated the behaviour of the liquid transition from Cassie-state to Wenzel-state during the impregnation process. After that, the intrinsic contact angle of Structure T (a porous structure with a T-shaped sectional profile) was obtained under a certain pressure which maintained liquids in Cassie-state. Meanwhile, two equilibrium states of the liquid-air interface as well as two different patterns of the equilibrium state disrupting were found in Structure R (a porous structure with a Chamfered T-shaped sectional profile). Simulation results show that the modelling method can be applied for simulating the hydrophobicity of different porous structures and optimizing the procedures for the design of the micro-array efficiently.

Allergen micro-array detection of specific IgE-reactivity in Chinese allergy patients

Background Allergen micro-arrays are powerful tools for screening of serum IgE-reactivity. In this study allergen micro-arrays were used to identify dominating IgE-binding allergens and cross-reactivity patterns among selected Chinese allergy patients. Methods The study was conducted using patient sera from the cities of Guangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu and Shenyang. In total 100 sera with Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus （Der p） specific IgE-levels higher than 50 kU/L were selected for testing against 103 individual allergens. Results Among 100 selected patients, 95% showed IgE-reactivity towards house-dust mite allergens Dermatophagoides farinae （Der f） 1, Der f 2 and Der p 2 and 94% were IgE positive against Der p 1, and 60% of sera contained IgE reacting against allergen Euroglyphus maynei （Eur m） 2. IgE against cat allergen, Felisdomesticus （Fel d） 1, was seen in 20%. Only 2% showed specific IgE-reactivity to Der p 10, a panallergen belonging to the tropomyosin family. Serum IgE-reactivity towards other allergens was in general low. IgE-reactivity against pollen allergens showed geographic differences. Conclusions This study clearly confirms that group 1 and group 2 are major allergens of house dust mites. These selected house-dust mite allergy patients are close to being mono-sensitized. Der p 10 is not an important allergen for cross-reactivity. Specific IgE-sensitization towards pollen allergens is low in southern China compared to other regions. The prevalence of food and stinging insect allergens known to give rise to IgE-mediated cross-reactivity is 2% or less.

Highly sensitive flexible capacitive pressure sensor with a broad linear response range and finite element analysis of micro-array electrode

With the continuous development of wearable electronics,health care and smart terminals,highly performance flexible pressure sensors present a huge application prospect.In this study,by introducing the micro-array structured electrodes and dielectric layers with high dielectric constant,capacitive pressure sensor fabricated with a brand new preparation strategy and highly sensitive is proposed.The prepared micro-array structure is the basis for sensors with high sensitivity.Besides,the contact area between the two electrodes changes from linear to planar with the increased loading,which result in a wider linear responding range.In addition,by introducing ceramic dielectric material-barium titanate(BT)fillers into the dielectric layer to increase it’s the dielectric constant,the sensitivity of the sensor shows two-fold increase.Moreover,the sensitivity gradients can be tuned by changing the loading contents of BT particles.Hence,compared with parallel board capacitive sensors with ordinary dielectric layer,these sensors exhibit excellent performance as follow,high sensitivity(up to 4.9 kPa^(-1))under low pressure range(0-2500 Pa),low detection limit(<1.7 Pa),short response time(<50 ms),a stable response over 5000 loading-unloading cycles,bending stability and an adjustable sensitivity.Further,the flexible pressure sensor can detect the pressure of the water droplets and monitor human movement behavior.With the facile design and excellent comprehensive properties,the flexible pressure sensor provides a new approach to improve the sensitivity and shows a broad application prospects in the wearable electronics,health care and smart terminals.

Expression Profile Changes of Genes Involved in Lipid Metabolism Pathway During Liver Regeneration in Mice

[ Objective ] The aim of the research was to study the expression profile changes of genes involved in lipid metabolism pathway during liver regeneration in mice. [ Method] The CCI4 induced mouse model of liver regeneration was established and the total RNA was isolated from liver tissue of mouse. Then the changes of genes involved in lipid metabolism pathway during different stages of liver regeneration were detected through micro-array chip gene technique and their specific functions were also analyzed. [ Result] Dudng the process of liver regeneration, the expression level of 98 genes involved in lipid metabolism pathway changed, which were divided into eight groups according to change trend. In the mass, the expression of genes was inhibited in the early stage and up-regulated in the late phase. And the gene expression associated with fatty acid synthesis pathway was mainly up-regulated while the catabolic pathway did not change significantly. Most of genes involved in bile acid synthesis pathway were suppressed before 4.5 d and up-regulated after 4.5 d or 7 d. [ Conclusion] During the process of liver regeneration, the genes associated with lipid metabolism are expressed in different trends, and this data should provide a specific range of genes for further studying the regulation effect of lipid metabolism related pathway on liver regeneration.

Liver expression of steroid hormones and Apolipoprotein D receptors in hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM: To evaluate the tissular expression of Androgen (A), Estrogen (E) and Progesterone (Pg) receptors, and Apolipoprotein D (ApoD), in liver tumors from resected hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cases in order to assess their possible relationship to prognosis. METHODS: We performed an immunohistochemical study using tissue microarrays (containing more than 260 cancer specimens, from 31 HCC patients and controls) to determine the presence of specif ic antibodies against AR, ER, PgR and ApoD, correlating their findings with several clinico-pathological and biological variables. The staining results were categorized using a semi-quantitive score based on their intensity, and the percentage of immunostained cells was measured. RESULTS: A total of 21 liver tumors (67.7%) were positive for AR; 16 (51.6%) for ER; 26 (83.9%) for PgR and 12 (38.7%) stained for ApoD. We have found a wide variability in the immunostaining score values for each protein, with a median (range) of 11.5 (11.5-229.5) for AR; 11.1 (8.5-65) for ER; 14.2 (4-61) for PgR; and 37.7 (13.8-81.1) for ApoD. A history of heavy ethanol consumption, correlated positively with AR and PgR and negatively with ER status. HCV chronic infection also correlated positively with AR and PgR status. However, the presence of ApoD immunostaining did not correlate with any of these variables. Tumors with a positive immuno-staining for PgR showed a better prognosis. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate a moderate clinical value of the steroid receptor status in HCC, emphasizing the need to perform further studies in order to evaluate the possible role of new hormonal-based therapies.

Application of Statistical Tools for Data Analysis and Interpretation in Rice Plant Pathology

There has been a significant advancement in the application of statistical tools in plant pathology during the past four decades. These tools include multivariate analysis of disease dynamics involving principal component analysis, cluster analysis, factor analysis, pattern analysis, discriminant analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, correspondence analysis, canonical correlation analysis, redundancy analysis, genetic diversity analysis, and stability analysis, which involve in joint regression, additive main effects and multiplicative interactions, and genotype-by-environment interaction biplot analysis. The advanced statistical tools, such as non-parametric analysis of disease association, meta-analysis, Bayesian analysis, and decision theory, take an important place in analysis of disease dynamics. Disease forecasting methods by simulation models for plant diseases have a great potentiality in practical disease control strategies. Common mathematical tools such as monomolecular, exponential, logistic, Gompertz and linked differential equations take an important place in growth curve analysis of disease epidemics. The highly informative means of displaying a range of numerical data through construction of box and whisker plots has been suggested. The probable applications of recent advanced tools of linear and non-linear mixed models like the linear mixed model, generalized linear model, and generalized linear mixed models have been presented. The most recent technologies such as micro-array analysis, though cost effective, provide estimates of gene expressions for thousands of genes simultaneously and need attention by the molecular biologists. Some of these advanced tools can be well applied in different branches of rice research, including crop improvement, crop production, crop protection, social sciences as well as agricultural engineering. The rice research scientists should take advantage of these new opportunities adequately in adoption of the new highly potential advanced technologies while planning experimental designs, data collection, analysis and interpretation of their research data sets.

Reproductive medicine and congenital heart disease

With the development of medical genetics,reproductive medicine has made considerable contributions to treatment of birth defects,a reduction in the incidence of birth defects,implementation of eugenics and fertility,and improvement of population quality.Congenital heart disease is a common birth defect and is the most serious among all birth defect diseases and seriously endangers the physical and mental health of children in China.In this article,we review the latest research progress of congenital heart disease in the field of reproduction.

Cell microarray chip system for accurate, rapid diagnosis and target treatment of breast cancer cells SK-BR-3

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world,survival rates of breast cancer are rising as screening and treatment improve.Many new technologies applied in the biomedical domain have been born for rapid diagnosis and treatment.In this work,visualization cell microarray chip with threedimensional(3 D)embedded cell scaffold for cell diagnosis and treatment was designed.DNA segment,targeting on breast cancer cells SK-BR-3,were modified with camptothecin and used as model drug.Cell microarray chip system successfully control the diffusion of small molecules and locally introduced the compounds into cells.3 D embedded cell scaffold in the cell array chip afforded an environment with continuous medium supplementary and help controlling the diffusion of small molecules drugs.By cell microarray chip system,SK-BR-3 was targeted screening and killing in one step.Cell microarray chip system can achieve accurate,rapid diagnosis and target treatment of breast cancer cells SK-BR-3 and have a potential to develop to be an effective and accurate drug screen method for evaluating the drug effect of the booming chemicals.

Approach to Quantitative Detection of CD146 with a Label-free Protein Biosensor Based on Imaging Ellipsometry

CD146 glycoprotein, belonging to the immunoglobulin gene superfamily, plays a unique role in heterophilic cell-cell interactions as a calcium ions independent cell adhesion